Wen | Wang Xifu
Illustrator | Zheng Li
The so-called "head and hoof water" refers to pigs, cattle, sheep and other livestock in addition to the main parts of the food of other scraps, including the head, hooves, liver, intestines, heart, lungs, stomach, waist and the like. This article is mainly about the pig's head hoof into the water.
Beijing diners are mixed in five directions, each with its own good. Diners who can't afford a big meal at the mansion retreat to the second place, seeking something good and cheap. The hoof of the head is the main ingredient in the preparation of this type of cuisine.
Because the foot material is not on the main seat, the price is cheap, but because the organs are fishy, they need to be treated separately, so that the chefs in Beijing exert their ingenuity and excellent skills, and have developed a lot of hoofed water delicacies. In fact, in the snacks and dishes in Beijing, the water under the head hoof has long been abandoned by people, and many well-known dishes have been achieved through the craftsman's work.
Exquisite feast in the water: a dish-burning feast
In food raw materials, all meats use their key parts of cuisine, that is, the so-called "graded feeding", such as tenderloin, hard ribs, front and back hip tips, etc. The rest will have a lot of scraps, and can not make large dishes, such as the head hoof into the water.
In the early years of the palace and the royal palace, there were often sacrifices to "sacrifice the ancestral poles" and eat "shenyu". The whole pig is boiled in white meat for people to eat "white boiled meat". Its use is very large, and most of the remaining head and hoof water is wasted and discarded. In particular, the sewage organs smell greatly, and the processing is more complicated, and the generally exquisite large households, especially the palace and the royal palace, no longer laboriously and laboriously to classify and process, but discard at any time. There are many royal palaces near Shichahai in Beijing, and after the sacrifice, they are piled up at the water's edge to feed the fish. When the poor people living nearby found these sewage, they began to waste it, sorting, cleaning, cutting and cutting all kinds of sewage on the spot, frying it and selling it to the poor coolies to become delicacies.
Over time, it has developed into a well-known feast that matches white meat - the roast dish feast. "Cooking saucer" is a dish made from the hoof of a pig's head and hooves, and sold together with a white meat hot pot, the so-called "roast dish feast". The dish feast is not only popular among the people, but also the prince, the king of the county, the baylor, the literati and inkers, etc. are also very happy to taste this mouth, so that the dish feast has evolved to be extremely exquisite. Dishes include dried croquettes, dried fried deer tails, fried liver, fried fat intestines, fried tenderloin, fried waist flowers, wooden whisker wings, honey loin, sesame balls, king kong fat intestines, etc., generally up to 48 dishes. Later, Cixi also liked to eat this object, and made a cooking dish feast in the imperial dining room of the Summer Palace, and the dishes made were divided into cold meat, hot stir-fry and desserts, up to more than 100 items.
Originally a comprehensive use of the water under the head and hooves, the roast dish was carefully made by the imperial kitchen and became the "imperial meal that does not enter the imperial city". The grade of the dish feast varies depending on the ingredients used, the chef's craftsmanship and management requirements. During the Republic of China period, the ordinary people ate dishes and feasts that were comparable to the banquets in the eight buildings of the general capital, which was only three or five oceans. The dishes in the grilled dish feast are also sold in the second meat shop and small restaurant, which is also authentic. At that time, the most famous dish feast was the "casserole house", which could make the head hoof into a beautiful "picnic room royal meal", and its kung fu was very good. However, nowadays, it is needless to say that there are more than a hundred products, that is, the 48-pin dish feast, which is also difficult to find in the nine cities.
The dish feast is divided into two parts: "white meat pot" and "roast dish". The white meat pot evolved from the sacrificial meat; the roasting dish was developed from the comprehensive utilization of the water under the head hoof, also known as the "white meat small roast". Nowadays, the whole table of white meat small roast banquets are almost extinct in Beijing, but the dishes in the roast dishes can still be found in the Zhuangguan cuisine in Beijing, such as croquettes, fried tenderloin, fried fat intestines, fried waist flowers, fried deer tails, fried rolled liver, etc., which are all favored dishes by Beijing diners. Although the preparation of many dishes has changed a lot, even some of them have no shape and taste. However, the use of the water under the hooves of the head to make a well-known feast is also a great event in the history of cooking.
Famous food made in the water: fried liver
The fried liver in Beijing snacks is almost unknown to everyone. Fried liver in Beijing was seen in the city roughly in the Qing Dynasty, such as Huixianju and Tianxingju in the fresh fish mouth are well-known fried liver shops. In fact, fried liver is also a pig sewage dish that has been carefully made and developed. In the early years, its raw materials not only had intestines and liver, but also heart and lungs, and the production was not hooked. It is very similar to today's stewed hangings, but the cooking techniques and accessories used are different, so that there is a saying among the people: "Fried liver does not hook - boil the heart and lungs." Later, the heart and lungs were removed, and the mustard was made, and gradually evolved into today's famous food in Beijing - fried liver.
At present, not only do fried liver shops in Beijing make and sell fried liver, but some restaurants and even restaurants also appear at banquets in order to highlight the taste of Beijing. However, some of its practices do not dare to compliment, and even really a little "boiling heart and lungs".
The production of fried liver is actually not simple, because the main raw material is the internal organs of pigs, it is necessary to remove the taste of organs, but also to retain the taste of the liver and intestines themselves, if the taste is nothing, it is not fried liver. However, many laymen and even insiders also say that they should retain the smell of intestines, which is completely wrong.
To make fried liver, first of all, you must start the pot correctly, the point is to use sesame oil to start the pot, first fry the large ingredients, and then fry the garlic, and the aroma of the pot is attacking. Then, add the minced ginger, yellow sauce, soy sauce, white soup and salt to taste. Another important point in stir-frying liver is to clean the raw materials. Especially for the cleaning of the intestines, it is necessary to use salt, alkali and vinegar, repeated lavage, and remove the rotten oil, white oil and mucous membranes that stick to the intestine, so as to retain part of the clean as cream on the intestine, not only the intestinal skin. Cook the intestines in a pot, cook them thoroughly, wash them and cut into sections and set aside. Pork liver should be washed, cut into oblique slices, blanched once in boiling water, and set aside. Put the cut intestines and liver into the soup with the taste, use salt and MSG to re-adjust the taste, use the dough powder to outline the sauce, sprinkle the garlic paste on top, and then eat in a bowl.
Famous dish in the water: stewed hanging
Stewed hangings are actually stewed pig water, including intestines, liver, lungs, waist and so on. Its most important operation is to clean the material, generally with salt, alkali, vinegar in turn to clean repeatedly, until there is no sediment, mucus, rotten oil, mucous membranes and other things, no odor. Then cook the washed pig underwater pot until it is cooked, cut into sections and pieces for later. Put the bottom oil into the pot, fry the green onion, garlic, put the yellow sauce, add water and boil until the water and oil are emulsified, put in all kinds of water and stir-fry, then add soup or boiling water, soy sauce, salt, large ingredients, cinnamon until the material is cooked and rotten. The taste of this dish must retain the original aroma of the water and make the spice taste slightly prominent.
Stewed hangings are actually family dishes or Lu Alley dishes, which are generally not made in the zhuang restaurant and are only sold in a few meat shops. However, this dish is found in the full court cuisine, so it is also true that it is a court dish. At present, in order to pursue the taste of Beijing, many large restaurants have also begun to sell stew hangings, but the taste is generally difficult to say accurately.
Specialized processing of pig's head: smoked fish workshop
In the past, the smoked fish workshop was very famous in Beijing, because the smoked fish and other products it produced and sold were so exquisite that even the zhuangguan could not reach it. One of the most famous products is smoked fish. It is said that it is smoked fish, but it is actually a "pork head meat" made with the help of the umami taste of fish.
The reason why smoked fish has been sold for a long time is because of its deep taste and fragrant taste. Ordinary pig heads have a unique fishy smell and are extremely difficult to remove. Therefore, the capital eats pork head meat or sauce or roast, but it is definitely as cold meat. It is not like "roasting pork face" like the southern dish, bringing soup to the table.
Smoked fish workshops have their own processing know-how to turn this kind of "down-to-order" into "delicacies". An important trick is not to process the spices, which, while tibing the meat, also makes it more peculiar. Therefore, in the initial processing, except for green onions and ginger, nothing else is used, it seems to be boiled in white, but it is necessary to taste deep, and it is necessary to make salt, that is, the taste should be salty. In order to avoid the pork head meat cooked for too long to rot, destroying the appearance and taste, the cooking time can only reach 80% of the rotten meat, and after cooling, it can be cut as thin as paper, increasing the delicacy and mellowness of the meat. A key step that is particularly worth mentioning is smoking, which must be made with a century-old cypress, and the resin of the old cypress has lost its dryness and becomes unusually fragrant. Then, stack the fried yellow croaker in the smoker, use its bottom, put the cooked pork on the yellow croaker, light the cypress wood from under the smoke drawer, smoke slowly over a dark fire until it is moderate, and then out of the drawer and let it cool. Such a delicate procedure ensures that the aroma of smoked fish is intrusive.
Nowadays, many restaurants want to emulate the smoked goods of the early years, but they all use sugar and tea in accordance with the Southern smoking method, so the taste has changed, and it is not smoked fish at all. In the early years of Beijing, the merchants who sold smoked fish along the streets all went to the smoked fish workshop to pick up the goods, and there was no self-made person. Especially on sunset evenings, vendors carry wooden boxes and shout along the street: "Smoked fish..." To the excitement of diners waiting to eat wine, eat and settle their hunger.
In addition to providing delicious smoked fish for vendors, the smoked fish workshop also wholesales many pig sewage products, including smoked belly, smoked intestine, smoked liver, smoked pig brain, etc., which are very popular with diners.
Smoked pig brain is still the processing and production of the water under the head and hoof, because the pig brain has a special odor, so the general restaurant does not do it at all, and it is the turn of the smoked fish workshop to make, which is very skilled. Pig brain cleaning must tear off the outer membrane, if it is not torn well, the entire pig brain will be scattered into mud. After the pig brain is cleaned and left intact, it must be cooked in the pot and then smoked in the pot. The smoked pig brain has no peculiar smell, but the fragrance is overflowing, tempting the appetite, and it is a good side dish to accompany the wine.
In addition, the sellers of smoked fish also sell some smoked chicken, smoked dried tofu, smoked bitter intestines and the like, and also sell a kind of white noodle fire. The buyer cuts the smoked fish meat as thin as a piece of paper and puts it into the fire, where it can be eaten at that time.
There are roughly two schools of smoked fish making in Beijing. The southern faction is manufactured and sold in the city and the southern city; the northern faction is manufactured and sold in the area of the outer pavilion outside and outside the Anding Gate, and further north to Qinghe and Shahe. The smoked fish in the city are all red skin, that is, dyed with sugar and rice, and the food color is attractive; the skin color of the north city is not dyed, and the original color of the flesh skin is retained.
Other sewer dishes in Beijing
In addition to the snacks made of sewage raw materials mentioned above, there are also many famous dishes of the banquet that also use sewage, such as stir-fried waist flowers, burst double crisps, nine-turn large intestines, scorched fat intestines, fried large intestines, grabbed fried waist flowers, slippery liver tips, bad boiled belly slices, etc., all of which are famous dishes that make the sewage extremely exquisite and delicious. Some of the sewage parts have been exquisitely processed and have also become famous dishes in high-end banquets, such as the hoof tendon sea cucumber made of the exquisite hoof tendons extracted from the pig's trotters, which is the famous dish of the Eight Buildings; the hoof rib ribs are the well-known cold meat in the banquet; the stir-fried waist flower is one of the four grasps of the court; and there are many famous dishes such as burst double crisp and boiled belly slices, which have traces of the head hoof in the water. These dishes remain in the menu and are loved by diners.
In Luxiang food, it is more common to sewage dishes, such as sauce pork head meat, smoked pork head meat, enema, sauce pig trotters, stewed offal, etc., no longer elaborated.
In Beijing snacks, the dishes in the water are also processed with other meat ingredients. For example, the head hooves of sheep are also very famous. In addition to the sauced sheep's head, there is also a more distinctive white water sheep's head. Every year after autumn, when the mutton is on the market, there are vendors selling white water sheep's heads on the street.
The white water sheep's head is full of fragrance and is very distinctive. The preparation method is to clean the sheep's head, put the green onion and ginger pieces, boil in water until eight ripe, you can get out of the pot, open the refrigerator and refrigerate. Roasted peppercorns, cloves, and sand kernels are powdered and large salts are added to form a spiced salt seasoning. When eaten, the lamb head slices are large thinly sliced and sprinkled with spiced salt, which is a very beautiful wine dish.
Haggis is to wash and blanch the heart, intestines, stomach, liver, lungs and the like of the sheep, change the knife to the water, add onions, ginger and other ingredients to cook thoroughly, pour sesame paste, chili oil, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and even put the soup into a bowl, that is, "white soup offal", which is the famous food in Beijing snacks.
In well-known restaurants, sheep sewage is also made into high-end famous dishes, such as "grilled sea sheep" is a variety of haggis or beef offal with sea cucumber or shark fin soup. Among them, the beef and mutton offal used includes hoof tendons, beef brain, lamb tripe, beef spinal cord, sheep tongue, etc., after these raw materials are cleaned and simmered, the chicken soup is simmered, the juice is collected and beaten, and the chicken fat is dragged into the simmered shark fin or sea cucumber, which is the big dish "grilled sea sheep". There is also a kind of "grilling sea sheep" that is made by Xiaoguanzi, that is, grilling sea cucumbers and lamb together, which is not the content of the "head hoof under the water" mentioned in this article.
In court cuisine, "braised whole deer" is indeed cooked with deer in the water. Its main raw materials are the heart, liver, lungs, stomach and intestines of the deer, cooked and sliced, under the pot, simmered with chicken soup into the flavor, add seasoning, hook, sprinkle coriander, beat chicken fat into a dish. Braised deer is also a famous dish. In this way, there are many more examples.
It can be seen from the production of the head hoof of the capital that the use of raw materials in the beijing diet and cooking can be described as making the best use of it, and it is appropriate and ingenious. This is a combination of the fine tradition of cooking and food management in Beijing and the ingenuity of the chefs, which cannot be underestimated.